Today was a very busy and interesting day taking Ivan (the Danone consultant) around Mwanza and to some of the large factories. We started off by going to one of the milk suppliers of the Yogurt Kitchen in Buswelu (very close to the Forever Angels orphanage) and watched the milking process. From there, we went to Mabatini to see the yogurt making process by the Mamas. We stayed for a bit while Ivan asked the Mamas questions about the start up of the group and about challenges that the project has faced in the past and what they are currently interested in.
The cows waiting to be milked
Ivan, the interns and the Mamas
Processing into thread
The many spools of thread
Aligning the spools of thread
Process of weaving the thread into fabric
The template
Pattern stensil to print from
Printing process
The kitenge after printing
Khangas
We then stopped briefly at SIDO (small industries development organization) and spoke with Damian Chang’a, the regional manager of Mwanza. Our Yogurt Mamas have worked several times with SIDO with preservation training and the trade fair, and we will continue to use their support in future endeavors.
After visiting SIDO, we stopped the U-Turn Supermarket to see the various dairy products available and then to Kivulini to pick-up some reports and documents for Ivan to take back to France with him.
Our next stop was to the Tanzania Breweries and had a quick tour of the factory and had an informational guild of the steps to make the various brands of local beer. The most popular brands that they make there are Castle, Tusker, and Safari.
Processing the beer
The taste room
We were able to have a short rest and snack before our meeting with Ivan about our project and then dropped him off at Isamilo Lodge for dinner with Chairman Batenga of the Mwanza Regional Chamber. We had a brief drink and chat with the Chairman and he expressed great interest in the Yogurt Kitchen and its great work for the HIV population. We exchanged contact info and would discuss further involvement in the near future.
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
This morning Meaghan and I spent catching up on regular tasks that we have not had time to do this week such as blog write-ups and laundry. We headed into town around noon to go to the immigration office to find out the steps to extend a volunteer VISA, which seems very complex and expensive. We then went to the bank, travel agency, and the Serengeti Expedition for Meaghan to pay for her safari next weekend. The internet café was our next stop and we had to go to a couple of places because the internet was down. We could only stay for 45 minutes and then had to rush off to our Swahili lessons without having lunch, so we picked up some buns from the pizzeria to munch on while going to our lessons.
We had a new student with us at our class today (Manuela), but we had met her before at Tunza, and she is a German girl teaching disabled children in Pasiasi. We are a bit intimidated by Manuela because she’s had 2 years of Swahili lesson before coming here as compared to our 2 months of lessons. I think the lessons were pretty easy and boring for her but she is a very nice girl and I have made plans to go on a safari with her and her family in December when my mom comes to visit.
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Meaghan and I started the morning making an English lesson for the Mamas and dropped it off early in the morning, instead of in the afternoon, because the Western faculty was arriving today. We had a brief stay at the kitchen before going to the internet café for a bit and then picking up Ruben at the apartment to go to the airport. The faculty came in around 1pm and was surprisingly full of energy. They had a really great time in Kenya seeing the new site for their separate Yogurt Project that the World Bank has funded for 2 years. The Mamas in Kenya were very enthusiastic and had a very good business sense for the project (one Mama was in school for her MBA). The faculty included Dr. Gregor Reid (and his daughter Jennifer), Dr. Isaac (and his PHD student Mary-Anne) and a Western staff member Douglas.
We dropped off the faculty at Tilapia to unload their luggage and settle into their new accommodations. Meaghan and I took Dr. Gregor and Jennifer to spend some time at the Forever Angels orphanage and they had a great time with the children and the ‘bubbles’.
We made plans to have dinner with Chairman Batenga again tonight because he showed so much enthusiasm for our project and wanted the faculty to discuss possible connections with people at the regional level. Chairman Batenga was able to organize a meeting with the Regional Administrative Secretary the next morning to see if he would write a letter of support for the Danone project to be hosted in Mwanza.
That night, Meaghan and I were extremely excited to receive our pumice stones and gifts sent through the faculty from the previous interns, Missy and Jackie. Thanks girls!
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Meaghan and I got up early to go to the Mabatini Kitchen to tell the Mamas of our change in plans because of the new meeting we had scheduled with the Regional Administrative Secretary this morning. We then went to Tilapia to pick up the faculty before going to our meeting. The group going to the meeting was Dr. Gregor, Isaac, Doug and I (Meg and I played rock, paper, and scissors to see who would go and I won). The meeting was very positive and the Secretary was happy to help. He suggested having me attain information from his assistant, Dr. Sarakikya, to write a letter with statistics about Mwanza. This job turned out to be a bit more tedious than I expected because the sources of information were coming from various places and I had to do most of the research via the internet while I waited for specialists to help me. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the meeting in Mabatini and the theatre performance that Ruben had arranged with a local group that was concerning HIV, hopefully I will be able to see it another time.
I had a very late lunch but managed to complete the letter and send it back and forth to various parties to have it edited and approved. I would have to wait for it to be printed with the letter head and then signed and emailed out to the respective parties.
That night, we had dinner at Tilapia with Simon (a microbiologist at NIMR who prepares the bacterial cultures for the probiotic yogurt) and Dr. Mwanga (also from NIMR). I had washed my bed sheets for Doug to sleep in my bed for the next week (he is staying longer to travel around Tanzania) and because I didn’t want to dirty them slept with Meaghan that night.
Friday, October 19th, 2007
I had a bit of a restless sleep because it was very hot in Meaghan’s room and with the window open made it somewhat noisy. We went to the Mabatini Kitchen with the faculty for a final visit before they left to go back home (including Dr. Gregor, Jennifer and Mary-Anne). Doug will stay for another week and Dr. Isaac will be with Ruben and I until Monday. I spent a bit of the morning running back and forth going to the Regional Commissioner’s Office to finish off, sign and sent the letter of support. Meaghan and I went to the airport to send off half of the faculty and it was a short but very successful visit. I then went back to the Regional Commissioner’s office and was finally successful in getting the letter completed with the letter head and also getting it signed by the Regional. In the afternoon, Meaghan, Doug and I went to the orphanage again, but this time with the 6L of yogurt for the children. We spent a while playing with the children and after came back to Tilapia to meet with Dr. Mwanga again for dinner and also one of Isac’s classmates, Nicholas.
Meaghan and Doug leave for their safari tomorrow and were busy packing for their trip because they would have to leave by 7am.
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
I woke up very early with Meaghan and Doug and I was so excited for their safari adventure, and also a bit jealous. Isaac, Nicholas, Ruben and I went to the market to pick-up a few souvenirs for Isac to bring home. Afterwards I made plans for Isaac to meet with Dr. Changalucha and we had a very brief meeting to go over the plans for the new Yogurt Kitchen in Kenya.
Afterwards, Ruben, Isaac and I went for lunch at the Pizzeria and then Ruben went back home to get some work done to prepare for his clinical study to begin on Monday. Isac and I spent all afternoon walking around the city buying small gifts for him to bring home and were very successful in getting some very nice things. We went back to Tilapia for a rest and to do some work. I brought my laptop to Tilapia and finished up some Swahili lessons and emailed a bit, this was the first time I was able to get the internet on my laptop (because I always go to the internet café).
For dinner, Isaac, Nicholas, Ruben and I went out to a new restaurant that served Indian and Chinese cuisine, The Diner. It was very good and we were able to get back to Tilapia in time to watch the Rugby World Cup with South Africa vs. England. South Africa was victorious and there were many excited fans in the bar.
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
I got up early to go visit the Nyakato Roman Catholic Church where Nicholas is a priest at with Isaac. The service was in Swahili and they had a beautiful choir that was breath taking. We were lucky enough to get a tour around the area with Nicholas and then stay for lunch with several other priests. Isaac and I bought some very nice Rosaries from some local community and had them blessed by the priests.
Getting our Rosaries blessed
We dropped Isac off at Tilapia to catch up on some work and I went to Tunza for a rest by the beach. Isaac and Ruben joined me in the afternoon and we had a nice dinner there before heading home.
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